Amish

ARTICLES ABOUT AMISH BY DATE - PAGE 4

LANCASTER, Pa. ? A volunteer firefighter apologized Wednesday before being sentenced to prison for setting fires at one-room Amish and Old Order Mennonite schoolhouses, including at least one blaze he claimed to have stumbled upon himself. A Lancaster County judge sentenced Dustin Shane Gerth, 19, of Narvon, to 11 1/2 to 23 months in prison and seven years of probation for the fires last year. Police said Gerth claimed to have discovered one of the fires at 3 a.m. by driving past it, then helped extinguish it. ?

Lenore Dickinson Mardis, 93 , died April 3. A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. June 7 at Somerset County Memorial Park. Ronald D. Trent, 69 , Friedens, died May 10. A service will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Deaner Funeral Home, Stoystown. Thelma D. Hauger, 83 , Somerset, formerly of Donegal, died May 10. A service will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the L. Boyd Snyder Funeral Home Inc., Church Street, Donegal.

HADLEY, Pa. ? State police say a pickup truck slammed into an Amish buggy in Mercer County, injuring five members of a family, including four children. Police say the truck driven by 38-year-old Jennifer Crenshaw of Geneva, Ohio, crossed into the opposite lane on State Road 358 in Perry Township and struck a utility pole around 6:50 p.m. Saturday. The Toyota pickup rolled once before hitting the buggy. Everyone in the buggy was ejected. Police say 29-year-old Benjamin Kempf, 5-year-old Erma Kempf and 1-year-old Miriam Kempf suffered major injuries.

James Roger Killius, 75, Springs, died May 5, 2008, at Meyersdale Medical Center. Born October 12, 1932, in Springs, the son of the late Walter and Loveta (Ash) Killius. He was preceded in death by one sister, Nonna Jean Beitzel. Surviving are his wife, Vera Mae (Eash) Killius; two sons, Walter Leroy Killius and wife, Regina, and Dwight Dean Killius, both of Lancaster; two daughters, Deborah Denise Koring and husband, Clifford, New Stanton; Donna Louise Ash and husband, Melvin B., New Holland; two sisters, Joyce Brenneman and husband, Harley, Bittinger, Md.; Gay Brownlee, Harrisonburg, Va.; eight grandchildren, James, Craig, Kyle, Steven, Kimberly, Nathan, Cordell and Evan; and one great-grandson, Steven, Jr. Mr. Killius was a truck driver, retiring after more than 44 years of service.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility commission is cracking down on ?Amish taxis? operating throughout the state. The PUC has issued 95 letters of warning in Clearfield, Jefferson and Indiana counties. It is planning a similar campaign aimed at drivers in Beaver, Butler, Lawrence and Mercer counties. While it hasn?t targeted Somerset County, it?s only a matter of time until the agency reaches here. Under state regulations, anyone who transports others for compensation must have a certificate of public convenience, which costs $350.

BELLEVILLE, Pa. ? A neighbor rushed to an Amish schoolhouse that was on fire and emptied three fire extinguishers to help contain the blaze. The fire broke out late Monday morning while the White Hall Amish School was in session in Belleville, 50 miles northwest of Harrisburg. No one was injured. Neighbor Sam Swarey said he ran over after he saw flames coming from the rear of the school. Swarey said he climbed the building?s front roof and opened a small window, releasing a large plume of smoke.

There, in the corner, kneels religion. To the left, arms crossed, stands politics. Straight ahead, music is seen dancing in the middle of the room. This place is crowded, overwhelming, and completely insane. The story? America has been pushed into a one-room apartment and my ears are beginning to hurt. I feel like a ship in a bottle; trapped, with no oxygen. Plus, I?ve come to the tragic conclusion that a difference of opinions is exactly why we have so many problems. Take, for example, the Amish man on the far side of the room.

Three members of a local Amish community are recovering from an accident in Greenville Township. At 8:30 a.m. Monday, Samuel Hertzler and his daughter Ruthie and sister-in-law Emma Yoder were injured when their buggy was struck from behind by a sport utility vehicle on Greenville Road. Susan Miller, neighbor of the Hertzler family, relayed information on behalf of the family via e-mail. Ruthie was released from the WVU Hospital Wednesday. She had a slight skull fracture, broken collar bone and blood on the brain.

HARRISBURG, Pa. ? A Pennsylvania appeals court has thrown out, at least temporarily, an $11,000 fine against an unlicensed midwife who served Lancaster?s Amish community, but indicated she probably will have to stop delivering babies. In a ruling distributed Thursday, Commonwealth Court Judge James Gardner Colins called the fine issued by the state medical board against lay midwife Diane Goslin ?unconscionable? and ?repugnant to traditional concepts of justice.? Goslin is challenging a board ruling that she must stop practicing midwifery because she is unlicensed.

MEADVILLE, Pa. ? An Amish man who killed his wife in a schizophrenic frenzy in 1993 pleaded no contest to a charge of custodial interference in the departure of their 17-year-old daughter from an Amish community in April. Edward Gingerich, 42, pleaded no contest Thursday to a count of interference with the custody of children. His brothers, Atlee Gingerich, 44, of Union City, and Joseph Gingerich, 43, of Cambridge Springs, pleaded no contest to conspiracy. All three defendants are scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 5. Authorities alleged that the girl was locked in a barn by her two brothers in April and then persuaded by her two uncles and her father to leave.